I sometimes like to make shortcuts to various folders on my Windows machine. I am annoyed, though, that when executed, this shortcut brings up an explorer window without the folder tree on the left. I found the solution to this here:

shortcut with folder tree

In short, the command line in your shortcut should read

%SystemRoot%\EXPLORER.EXE /n,/e,d:\

where “d:\” should be replaced by the path to the file.

I just can’t get into her. Hillary, I mean. I think much of my sentiment can be summed up by events during a recent visit to my folks’ place on the east side of town.

I was spending the night and, as is often customary when doing so, headed downstairs to watch some T.V. with my mom before bed. Actually, being the couch-sleeper I am, I likely had no intention of ever making it to bed. But I digress…

My dad was probably with us initially, too, but he can take about five minutes of television programming involving “talking heads” before excusing himself with a grumble. I think I admire that about him; it’s almost as if he views the babbling of political pundits as a taint upon his hallowed airwaves. Gah…more digressing…

My mom and I, though, we don’t seem to have quite the disdain for it, especially during election season. I kind of enjoy watching posted election results as the night goes on, particularly with all the graphs and visual aid toys the networks employ these days. And so this night at my folks’ place my mom and I were watching as the results from the Democratic primary of some state or another trickled in. McCain had pretty much staked his claim as the Republican nominee, so most of the buzz was around the Democratic contest. I am not even sure which candidate won the states up for grabs that night, but the time approached for each to address the cameras. Hillary was first.

I became immediately agitated. I had been sitting in a recliner and suddenly realized that I simply could not get comfortable. My mom was standing up kind of rocking side to side as she watched Hillary speak. I found myself distracted by something on the coffee table and tapped it back and forth with my finger. A minute or two into her speech, I asked my mom if she would mind me flipping through the channels. No. I channel surfed a bit, settling on nothing specific, and made my way back to her speech every few minutes. It wasn’t long before Hillary wrapped things up and the network shifted to a rally for Obama as he prepared for his speech. Time to see what he had to say.

Man that recliner was comfortable. I set the remote down and sank into the soft, warm cushions as Obama’s words washed over me. We nodded attentively as he continued his personal discourse between the three of us. My mom glanced back at the couch. She walked over to it, grabbed some pillows and a blanket, and proceeded to make a nest on the floor from which to watch him. I was almost disappointed when he concluded his speech. My mom was asleep.

That’s kind of where I stand. Hillary makes me uncomfortable. Obama makes me want to settle in and hear him tell me that everything is okay. I have tried to listen to what Hillary says – to her “message” – I really have, but I can’t get past a voice and veneer that oozes disingenuousness. I just don’t buy it. Meanwhile, Obama, as fraught with “umm”s and “ah”s as his speeches sometimes are, or partly because of them, feels to me like the genuine article. He is conversational and does not restrict himself to rigid, party-line dialogue and responses. When he speaks, I believe him. And I like him.

Should one’s perception of sincerity be an appropriate benchmark against which to measure candidates racing to hold the title of the country’s chief diplomat, negotiator, and figurehead? Well, I’m not sure it’s an inappropriate benchmark, anyhow.

Hillary feels to me like old school politics. She seems to take the classic approach of telling me what she thinks I want to hear. I may be naive, but come on. Throughout the primaries, she has adapted her persona to accommodate what she believes people respond to (in a stroke of irony, even latching onto Obama’s mantra for a change from politics as usual in lieu of touting her political experience). One of her more recent gimmicks is the suspension of the federal gas tax this summer. You know, that whopping 18.4 cents per gallon that goes toward maintaining an aging transportation infrastructure that is already in disrepair. All she needs while making such a pitch is a backdrop of the Interstate 35-W bridge that collapsed in Minnesota last August, killing 13 people. Brilliant, Hillary.

I guess political promises are made to be broken, that that’s just the way of things, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Another one of my hang-ups is strictly statistics driven. Here, miracle of miracles, we’re expected to believe that two people worthy of holding (arguably) the most influential position in the country, and perhaps the world, happen to be married to one another. What are the chances? Pretty nil. There’s a better chance that neither is so deserving of the office. At any rate, I’ll pass on the dynasty, thanks. I don’t believe it’s good for the country and I’m not about to make an exception for the Clintons.

Of course, this post is largely irrelevant since Ron Paul will be running away with the general election in November.

Today I woke up and got ready for work. I drove my compact car from my suburban home to the office. I worked in my cubicle on the computer until lunch. I ate a sandwich and vegetables for lunch. I worked in my cubicle until it was time to go home. I came home and hung out for a while before going to bed. I look forward to tomorrow.

Ever click on a hyperlink to a MS Office document and watch it open awkwardly in Internet Explorer, with all sorts of wonky results? I have. As kind as Microsoft is, they have a knowledge base entry addressing the problem:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q162059/

I was recently posed with the question of whether or not you could hyperlink (yeah, I’m using the term as a verb) to a specific page of a PDF. In looking around, I am under the impression this can be done if the PDF resides on a web server by adding “#page=2” to the hyperlink (for Page 2, that is).

http://foo.com/file.pdf#page=2

nule mentioned this might be browser specific, but I have not run into that.

The situation becomes more complicated if the hyperlink points to a PDF residing on a mapped network drive, etc. I have read of solutions involving VBA scripts for this particular case, though I did not delve into it (nor do I intend to).

I discovered today that Samba appears to be uncooperative when trying to connect from a single machine to two or more of its shares using different user names. This is a probably a pretty esoteric problem, I realize, but came into play when I was troubleshooting another user’s account without disconnecting shares mounted under my own user name first. The client machine was running Windows XP, the server Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon).

Ubuntu has been my Linux of choice for sometime now. Currently using Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy) with default VNC package. Along the way I have found some issues.

Keyboard Malfunction

I recently ran into a problem while upgrading distributions. In short, the keyboard mapping was completely messed up when connected over VNC. Typing characters over VNC returned seemingly random characters on the other end. The problem has been discussed and a work-around solution proposed here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/feisty/+source/vino/+bug/112955

Two posts by “wjs” on that page got me up and running (I am using a U.S. keyboard). The correct characters are now carried over VNC. Evidently, this bug is still not fixed, and has been experienced with multiple Ubuntu distributions. Check out the link above for more information.

Disappearing Desktop

I have also found an issue related to the display of the desktop and menus which seems to affect the operation of the keyboard and mouse, as well. Whenever I would try to connect to a VNC session, the login process would begin, the menu bars at the top and
bottom would flash, but disappear. I was left with only the trademark Ubuntu brown desktop (my current background) and no menus. The mouse and keyboard also seemed inoperable. I began to think something in gnome was broken, but could not track down the problem. In the end, I discovered that specifying a color depth when starting the VNC server corrected the problem. Instead of just

vncserver -geometry 1024x768 :1

which would give me an inoperable desktop, I used

vncserver -geometry 1024x768 -depth 16 :1

and the desktop loaded fine. I have not looked around much online regarding this problem.

Expanding upon my last post, some other things to keep in mind:

-Off-axis viewing: will you be sitting directly in front of the television or close thereto? Or will many viewing positions be off to the side? If people will be viewing from side angles, be sure to check out how badly the picture darkens as you move to the side. This will vary between models. Some models actually employ a glossy covering that helps direct more light directly forward. This is good when sitting in the sweet spot but can impair off-axis viewing.

-Glare: I mentioned the glossy covering. This can be good and bad. It can be bad if you have a lot of untreated windows around. In such a situation, a set with a matte finish over the screen would probably be a better bet.

-Features: I’m guessing that whatever set you get will have plenty more features and inputs than you need, but it’s something worth keeping in mind. Preferably, the set would have a DVI (and HDMI, ideally) input as well as two high-bandwidth component inputs.

-Signal Sources: some televisions might look excellent when displaying a high-def signal but look lousy when displaying standard cable, etc. Not really something you can test out in the store but good to keep in mind.

Smoothies give me the creeps. And I’ll tell you why…

Yes, I’m talking about those seemingly innocuous frozen drinks that are in dietary fashion right now. I’m actually not sure if I’ve ever had a smoothie, so maybe I should suspend judgment. It’s not even that I don’t think they would taste good, either; I suspect they do. At least they LOOK like they do. And they look fun to eat, to boot. I’m not even saying I won’t try one sometime; I’ll just do so with extreme prejudice, that’s all.

Why? Because they look a little TOO good, a bit TOO fun. It is this apparently benign allure smoothies have toward people that makes me cautious; something just doesn’t sit right. I am unnerved by the enthusiasm some people demonstrate toward them; it’s almost obsessive. I can’t help but look with suspicion between the eager look on their faces and the colorful quietude of frozen goodness in their hand. There is something about that smoothie that gives me the creeps.

Of course, I have no tangible evidence that anything is amiss…yet. It’s just a hunch. But I plan on keeping my eyes peeled, don’t you worry. And until then, I’ll try to shake this unnerving visual image of a heroic anti-smoothie crusader falling to his knees, arms outstretched toward the sky asking “why? why!?” before falling into a heap, wrecked by the newfound knowledge that smoothies are indeed actually made of people, as a mob of smoothie-slurping, ipod-wielding, grimace-bearing zombies closes in.

You following me? Didn’t think so. I think I’m going to just go to bed.

Lately, I have felt the temptation to purchase a remote with which I could rule over the myriad components at our house. A couple of weeks ago this desire was augmented by the all-too-frequent itch to buy a new toy. And so I present to you Logitech’s Harmony 676 Universal Remote.

I have followed Harmony’s (acquired by Logitech) line of remotes since probably their inception. They have been generally well-received as affordable alternatives to high-end system controllers. I initially narrowed my choices down to the Logitech Harmony 676 and the 680. After much reading around, I arrived at the conclusion that the only real difference was button layout, and I was partial to the button layout on the 676. The capabilities of the two remotes seem to be about on par with one another. I had a few criteria in mind that I wanted to see in any remote I purchased:

1. Reasonable Price
I don’t mind dropping some money on a decent remote, but I have no desire to part with hundreds of dollars, much less thousands.

2. Traditional Formfactor
By this, I mean the shape and size of conventional remotes with actual “hard” buttons. I absolutely did not want some beast of a remote that requires two hands to operate. I also am not a fan of the giant LCD screen that allows you to layout “soft” buttons on it. The tactile response is non-existent and provides me no way of feeling my way around in the dark, should I ever have to. In my mind, I was picturing a remote with a small LCD screen to provide feedback or navigation, but not a large, power-hungry one.

3. Ergonomics
This includes a few things. First, I wanted a remote that is fairly easy to configure yet powerful enough to do a bit beyond the basic functions for each component. Second, I don’t want to be constantly changing batteries, so they’d better last a while. Third, my ideal remote would fit comfortably in one hand and have a backlight that I can easily kick on, if needed. Lastly, I wouldn’t mind it actually looking somewhat good sitting on the coffee table! 

Price

Sure, you can go to Walmart and pick up a “universal” remote for $20. Okay, and maybe Aldi’s has one for $10. But all-in-all, I think the $72 I paid for the Logitech Harmony 676 is a fantastic price, given its capabilities. The 676 was available from Newegg.com for $122 less a $50 mail-in rebate. I have seen similar prices at other online retailers, but I happen to {heart} the ‘egg (it’s just such a cute name). At any rate, this remote’s capabilities are on par with remotes costing 10 times as much. 

First Impression

The freakin’ thief-deterrent plastic always leaves a sour first impression of so many electronic products these days. The first five minutes with my remote consisted of me trying to liberate it from its enclosure without having myself a bloodletting. Oh, I got to it, though:

The 676 has a very comfortable, almost rubber-like plastic grip wrapping the back and sides. The faceplate is handsome enough, in my opinion: techy looking but in an unobtrusive kind of way. Its silver in color but the 676 comes with red and blue replacements (I’m not a big fan of the color faceplate thing, but maybe some night when I’m feeling sassy…). The silver is a good look, though. The buttons are laid out with space enough in between them (as much as you’ll find on a remote designed to do so much, anyway) so you can somewhat feel your way around, at least to some of the more major functions. A smallish LCD screen with room for about four lines of text stares up at you, and three buttons on either side provide access for making selections from the menu on the screen. The shape of the remote is very comfortably contoured. In short: it had me at “hello.”

There are 4 buttons at the top of the remote that are colored. These grant access to the remote’s preprogrammed “activities” functions. By default, there is one button each for watching a movie, watching TV, and listening to music. The fourth colored button gives access to additional activities through use of the LCD screen. These four colored buttons will become your new little friends. 

Setup

As you may have heard, this is where the Logitech Harmony line of remotes really shine. It was almost disgusting how easy setup was; I felt guilty. From the moment you turn the remote on, it’s holding your hand through use of its LCD screen. Also, the 676 comes with four Duracell AAA batteries. Trivial, perhaps, but a nice touch. A USB cable is also provided.

Yes, this remote must be hooked up via USB to an Internet-ready computer in order to be properly programmed, but that doesn’t bother me. Perhaps you’re of a different mindset (e.g. damn convergence to hell!). I installed the software without incident and made a login for myself when it took me to Logitech’s site. The online check noticed that the software and firmware were behind so it walked me through the updates. It took several minutes, but no big deal; you’ll earn those minutes back during the configuration. The online web configuration then asked me to input the brand and model of all the components in my A/V system. And my, what a database Logitech keeps! Everything from receivers to TV’s to PS2’s to Media PC’s to motorized shades and dimmable lights. My understanding is that if your hardware isn’t on there, contact Logitech and they’ll custom map a setup for you. From what I saw, though, it’s a pretty thorough list.

I entered the information for each of our components, suddenly realizing that I really need to latch onto some motorized shades. Once all components are added to the list, the online configuration walks you through the setup of your “activities.” For example, in order to watch a movie, the setup will ask you which components you want involved in the activity (the rest will be off). It also prompts you for which input each component should be set to and which component should be controlling the volume, as well as more detailed settings such as what effects to implement on the A/V receiver. The setup is extremely intuitive, even for a newbie, though some running back and forth between computer and A/V system will likely be required. Luckily, our A/V system happens to be right by the beer fridge, so this worked out just fine for me.

The basic setup for each activity is simple. You can, if you want, get into extensive detailing and tweaking for each activity and/or component. I haven’t delved into this too much yet (the default setup is just THAT good), but likely will in the future, at least to an extent.

Once the activities and components are configured, you save the settings to the flash memory (retained even if batteries are removed) in the remote. This will take a few minutes. The little LCD screen on the remote keeps you apprised of what’s going on and tells you when it is finished. Unplug it and you are ready to go. 

Ease of Use

I was almost nervous when I walked in the living room and hit the “Watch Movie” button. I just wasn’t sure this thing was going to work. But it did. Everything fired up exactly as it should have on exactly the right inputs. I couldn’t help but smile as I looked with disdain at the three remotes sitting below me. Their time was up.

Naturally, I had to play with those activity buttons for about half an hour before looking at anything else. The 676 will even prompt you when you hit an activity button, asking you if everything is working okay. If you say no, it will try to correct the situation. I ran into this immediately when I tagged the “Watch TV” button. Our cable box must have already been on and it turned it off when firing off the macro. When it asked if everything was functioning correctly and I said no, it turned the cable box on and and the cable signal appeared on the TV. My smile faltered slightly because, well, that was kind of spooky; I have no idea how it knew the cable box was the component out of sync. Looking down at the LCD screen, I saw that it was asking me if that fixed it. I hesitantly replied in the affirmative without making too much eye contact.

The activity buttons are cool, I have to admit. Some confusion can arise if components get out of sync, though. The remote has no way of knowing if a component is on or off. Some components (especially newer ones) have discrete signals for ON and OFF. Those that do not, however, can find themselves being turned on or off when really the opposite was desired, depending on their existing state. I guess it’s possible that the 676 knows which components have discrete on/off signals and is thus able to better troubleshoot when things get out of sync. But still…I won’t be doublecrossing the 676 anytime soon.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the default layouts for component controls are handled with aplomb by the 676. It nimbly managed the navigational and informational features of the cable box, assigning an intuitive layout for such functions. In addition to the functions assigned to the hard buttons, more obscure commands are accessible through the LCD screen and its associated buttons. Using this command set, I found the remote was able to do everything from calibrating the picture on our Sony HDTV to adjusting speaker level and distance compensation on the Yamaha receiver. Very cool.

I do have an issue with the remote when it comes to some of the more obscure commands. The labeling of the commands on the LCD screen can become someone crammed and difficult to read, at times. Furthermore, it seems as if a few of the commands are not set-up correctly (e.g. the command for invoking the “Jazz” surround effect actually triggers “Rock Concert”). It appears as if most of the options are there to control the finer points of the receiver but that a few of them might be mixed up with one another. In the end, I take this as a pretty small issue. It is also possible that the assignments can be manually reconfigured; I have not had a chance to dive into that yet.

Accessing the more detailed component functions involves switching out of the “activity” mode and selecting the specific component to control. This is made easy by the “Device” button. Pressing this button brings up a list of all programmed components on the LCD screen. Selecting a component on this list remaps the remote for detailed control over that particular peripheral. Once any tweaking has been taken care of, simply hit the “Device” button to switch back to the activity layout that was last activated. Again: very cool.

The Logitech Harmony 676 is capable of controlling media center PCs. I have not had the chance to add an infrared receiver to our media center PC, but I plan to at some point. There is a “Media” button on the 676 that supposedly brings up the access screen for all media on the PC. It sounds intriguing, but I have not had any experience with it, as of yet.

Physically, this remote is a beauty. It has a solid, comfortable feel to it. Its elegant contours fit naturally in my hand. The buttons have a crisp, snappy feedback, too, and I notice very little of the lag that can come with using a universal remote with various equipment. After using the remote for only a little while, I have become accustomed to the placement of some of the more heavily used buttons and can find them without looking. The “Glow” button is easy enough to find in the dark and provides a pleasant blue backlight to all buttons and the LCD screen. 

Conclusion

The Logitech Harmony 676 Remote is the remote that I have been waiting for. It manages to blend ease of use for everyday functions with brute power for those times you wish to delve into the detailed settings of a component. And it looks good while doing it. Appropriate for the neophyte as well as harder core A/V junkies, it comes at a price that won’t leave too big of a dent in your wallet. While there are some wrinkles with some of the detailed function assignments, overall the 676 performed marvelously and its activity modes make full system control a snap.

Setup: A
Ease of Use: B+
Physical Attributes: A